MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Friday it would respond quickly with retaliatory measures to the latest round of U.S. sanctions that it criticized as another "hostile step", pledging to support affected companies with state funds.

"Of course our retaliatory measures will not keep you waiting," the Foreign Ministry said in an online statement.

Economy: Russian authorities wanted to decrease the financial market"s dependence on SWIFT since the introduction of the first U.S. sanctions

Russia and China are discussing setting up a system of interbank transactions which will become an analogue to International banking transaction system SWIFT, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov told PRIME on Wednesday after negotiations in Beijing.

"Yes, we have discussed and we have approved this idea," he said.

Russian authorities wanted to decrease the financial market"s dependence on SWIFT since the introduction of the first U.S. sanctions, when international payment systems Visa and MasterCard denied services to some Russian banks owned by blacklisted individuals.

Last week, Russia announced an game changing shift for energy in which they are now allowing the sale of oil and natural gas to be done in both Roubles and Yuan, bypassing the dollar and cracking the 40 year old petro-dollar system.

Dr. Jim Willie also pointed out that while Russia was not fully ready to use the Rouble as a primary currency for a large portion of their oil sales, the inclusion of the Yuan by Gazprom will allow multitudes of nations to bypass the dollar, and allow them to purchase oil directly from Russia without having to be enslaved to SWIFT and the financial mechanisms of the reserve currency that the U.S. has used not only for profit, but as a financial weapon.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Friday it would respond quickly with retaliatory measures to the latest round of U.S. sanctions that it criticized as another "hostile step", pledging to support affected companies with state funds.

"Of course our retaliatory measures will not keep you waiting," the Foreign Ministry said in an online statement.

Economy: Russian authorities wanted to decrease the financial market"s dependence on SWIFT since the introduction of the first U.S. sanctions

Russia and China are discussing setting up a system of interbank transactions which will become an analogue to International banking transaction system SWIFT, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov told PRIME on Wednesday after negotiations in Beijing.

"Yes, we have discussed and we have approved this idea," he said.

Russian authorities wanted to decrease the financial market"s dependence on SWIFT since the introduction of the first U.S. sanctions, when international payment systems Visa and MasterCard denied services to some Russian banks owned by blacklisted individuals.

Last week, Russia announced an game changing shift for energy in which they are now allowing the sale of oil and natural gas to be done in both Roubles and Yuan, bypassing the dollar and cracking the 40 year old petro-dollar system.

Dr. Jim Willie also pointed out that while Russia was not fully ready to use the Rouble as a primary currency for a large portion of their oil sales, the inclusion of the Yuan by Gazprom will allow multitudes of nations to bypass the dollar, and allow them to purchase oil directly from Russia without having to be enslaved to SWIFT and the financial mechanisms of the reserve currency that the U.S. has used not only for profit, but as a financial weapon.